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Anxiety

Anxiety is the most common mental health condition in Australia. Share your own story and learn about other member’s experiences with anxiety.

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BeyondBlue Hi! Check out this post if you're not sure how to start
  • replies: 0

Hi there and welcome to the Anxiety section of the Forums First of all, thank you so much for joining us here. We think it’s amazing that you’ve taken this step to getting support and learning from this Community. You are very welcome here and we are... View more

Hi there and welcome to the Anxiety section of the Forums First of all, thank you so much for joining us here. We think it’s amazing that you’ve taken this step to getting support and learning from this Community. You are very welcome here and we are really interested in what you might want to add to these conversations. We get it, having anxiety makes it hard to share in a public place. Remember, this is anonymous and the Beyond Blue team are here to help if you need it This section is for people who are experiencing anxiety in some form in their lives. This might be in social settings, at work, or just in the day to day. You don’t need a diagnosis to post here. If it feels like the right spot for your post, go right ahead! We know that feeling anxious can make it hard to reach out so we want you to know that getting this far is amazing and a great start. A few tips for getting the most out of this section: Get involved when you can! Posting and replying is the heartbeat of this community and you DO have something worthwhile to share (when you’re ready ) Every experience is different. There is no competition here. We know how challenging anxiety can be and how it comes in all shapes and sizes. What you are experiencing will be respected and supported here. Trust yourself! You are the expert in your experience. This community works because people like you share what has worked for you. Thank you for getting involved and taking a look. We can’t wait to hear from you! Beyond Blue

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Big_Heart Anxious about going to school
  • replies: 3

Hi I’m 40 and diagnosed with social anxiety and many other illnesses but the thing is that I want to achieve in life and I figured going to school would be the best option. the only problem is that I suffer with anxiety and I’m worried other class st... View more

Hi I’m 40 and diagnosed with social anxiety and many other illnesses but the thing is that I want to achieve in life and I figured going to school would be the best option. the only problem is that I suffer with anxiety and I’m worried other class students will pick up on that. It really sucks having multiple diagnoses. i have manic depression with psychotic symptoms borderline personality disorder traits clinical depression social anxiety and so on. i really want to achieve but I’m worried people in the classroom will judge me and isolate me as a loser. ive spoken to the school disability liaison officer and she said I can get someone in the class room to help but that will make it even more obvious that I gave an illness. what do you think ?

EmStoj Intrusive thoughts and postnatal anxiety
  • replies: 3

Need support from people who’ve had experience with PNA/OCD. This is long sorry. Just had my second baby, with first baby suffered badly with anxiety/OCD during pregnancy and after birth, ended up with intrusive thoughts so went onto medication post ... View more

Need support from people who’ve had experience with PNA/OCD. This is long sorry. Just had my second baby, with first baby suffered badly with anxiety/OCD during pregnancy and after birth, ended up with intrusive thoughts so went onto medication post partum, was on them for a year and was doing brilliantly and have been off for 16 months. A few weeks ago the symptoms started coming back but I was ignoring and hoping they would go away. It’s resulted in me having huge amounts of trouble naming the baby. So much so that’s he was called Archie, then Flynn, then James and now he’s Archie again. When we settle on a name I feel at peace for a bit then something comes in to sabotage it and I feel compelled to change it. I was finally getting comfortable with Archie and then bam, into my head - intrusive thought - when I say if out loud it sounds silly and I know it’s irrational but it keeps popping in and giving me doubt. I remembered I used to really like a TV show where the main character was called Archie. As a teenager he gets in a boating accident with his brother Jamie and the brother drowns. Then I started feeling like this was bad luck for my older son (his name is Benjamin) who before he was born was going to be James (Jamie) and then Archie was going to be James (Jamie). Now this thought keeps repeating in my head and I don’t know how to get it out. I feel like changing his name again but then think something else will probably come up and ruin that too. I can feel myself slowly slipping backwards and I’m so scared of going completely crazy and like it’s going to completely effect our bond. I know in my head it’s an intrusive thought/anxiety but I don’t know how to make it move on.

bec126 social anxiety story
  • replies: 6

I wrote this story about my story using a different name and I hope that it can help someone When you walk into a room full of people you are most likely calm and don’t want to leave immediately. I am not calm and I want to get out of there as quick ... View more

I wrote this story about my story using a different name and I hope that it can help someone When you walk into a room full of people you are most likely calm and don’t want to leave immediately. I am not calm and I want to get out of there as quick as I can. Hi, I’m Chloe and I have social anxiety disorder (also known as S.A.D). Well, I haven’t been professionally diagnosed but I suffer from all the social anxiety disorder symptoms. No one knows about my condition, not even my parents. I’m too scared to talk about it to anyone. If can’t talk to people normally, what makes it ok for me to show my weaknesses. If I can’t tell the one person I trust most, how do I tell someone else I stay at home, in bed whenever I can. I wish I wasn’t like this. I wish I could just go to parties and go out without overthinking for hours on end what I’m going to wear and how I’m going to look and what makes me blend into the background the most. I wish I could just go out without thinking about my every move carefully. Without feeling like every eye in the room is watching me, waiting for me to embarrass myself. I wish I could be an outgoing person that could talk to anyone. The reality is that I can never be outgoing so I might as well just embrace my social anxiety. If more people come together that have this same condition, we might not feel so alone. Also, remember that you aren’t alone and that 1 in 7 people in Australia suffer from an anxiety disorder

AnxietyGirl95 Anxiety controls me!
  • replies: 4

Well where do I start. I'm not completely sure whats wrong with me. But I know I suffer from really bad social anxiety. I get nervous around people. I'm too scared to talk. I'm worried about what they will think about me. I over think everything a d ... View more

Well where do I start. I'm not completely sure whats wrong with me. But I know I suffer from really bad social anxiety. I get nervous around people. I'm too scared to talk. I'm worried about what they will think about me. I over think everything a d I create scenarios in my head that are just ridiculous. I'm scared of people in the world. I like to be alone. But I really don't wanna be alone. I wanna talk to people and make friends but I'm just too nervous and shy. I hide away. I stay in my house as much as possible. I'm worried about being ridiculed or laughed at. I'm so scared to just be me... Does anyone else have this problem? Please tell me I'm not alone... I let people walk over me because I'm too scared to act like myself. I'm quiet and insanely shy.... I have no friends anymore. I never used to be like this. Something changed. Maybe something traumatic I'm not sure of exactly what. It's been too long since I've had a real conversation with anyone but my partner and my mother. I'm always so down. Im depressed because of my anxiety. When things get complicated or someone does something to embarrass me even tho it's nothing major I freak out and I cry.... To be honest when I try to talk to someone about these things I cry my eyes out....

kira44 Anxiety & Fear has consumed me
  • replies: 1

Hello, This is my first time posting as I am new to the site. I just wanted to reach out and get some advice, suggestions from others that may have experienced the same feelings as me. I have been suffering with anxiety for the past few years. I have... View more

Hello, This is my first time posting as I am new to the site. I just wanted to reach out and get some advice, suggestions from others that may have experienced the same feelings as me. I have been suffering with anxiety for the past few years. I have tried different techniques to try and overcome and work through my issues but I always seem to find myself back in the same position. Feeling worthless and like I will never be able to enjoy life as much as I possibly could. I hit an all time low last week when I had to cancel an overseas trip to see my family because my anxiety and fears completely consumed me. Obviously this has left me feeling even worse, angry, sad, hopeless but also determined that I do not want to let this monster in my head take my happiness away from me anymore. Has anyone else had these same feelings and can offer treatment ideas or advice? Many thanks for reading

AdamW Hope
  • replies: 1

Hi Everyone, I was a somewhat frequent member of these forums a few years ago and found it and the information on this site really helpful. At the stage I was dealing with bad GAD and was looking for help. I haven't been on here for a while and wante... View more

Hi Everyone, I was a somewhat frequent member of these forums a few years ago and found it and the information on this site really helpful. At the stage I was dealing with bad GAD and was looking for help. I haven't been on here for a while and wanted to follow up because personally things have been good, I still deal with Anxiety on occasions but my relationship with it has changed. Some things that I think have been the most helpful have been seeing a Psychologist, Eating well, Meditation, Exercise and trying to maintain a healthy life style, one of the most important things is also trying to do the things you enjoy doing (Cooking, growing a garden etc ). There is a lot of wonderful information on the internet and it helps to know there are other people going through the same thing. I understand how hard and difficult it can be, but please take one step at a time and remember to be gentle with yourselves. Take Care and all the best to everyone.

SilverLight Anyone else terrified of alarms
  • replies: 1

Does anyone else have a serious fear of house alarms/fire alarms etc... I deathly fear setting off the house alarm or something having a fault and going off while I'm alone or in the middle of the night because the noise instills worst fear in me... ... View more

Does anyone else have a serious fear of house alarms/fire alarms etc... I deathly fear setting off the house alarm or something having a fault and going off while I'm alone or in the middle of the night because the noise instills worst fear in me... I'm talking refusing to walk under a smoke alarm for days in case it goes off again or having to leave the house and refusing to go back in until I'm no longer alone... It's absolutely terrifying for me... Anyone else??

Zody Anxiety taking over
  • replies: 8

Hi I just want to post a thread to see if anyone else has GAD and severe panic attacks and agrophobia and is a single parent I am finding it really hard to keep positive when I feel like every step I take forward I get 3 backwards its a effort for me... View more

Hi I just want to post a thread to see if anyone else has GAD and severe panic attacks and agrophobia and is a single parent I am finding it really hard to keep positive when I feel like every step I take forward I get 3 backwards its a effort for me to Leave my home to take my kids out to shop to even get out of bed but I do it as exhausting as it all is but I have people around always pushing me thinking there is a magic cure if they push me out of my comfort I'll be fixed and that its all in my head of course I've suffered depression and anxiety since I was 16 I'm 30 now and last year I got in a abusive relationship and was beaten severely so I have PTSD as well causing me to invert more I just want to know does anyone else feel pressured by the outside world and is it just me should I push myself before I'm ready or should I take it day by day I feel really alone like I'm alone in this and I just want my kids to be able to do things and not b such a disappointment

MrAnxiety Please help, I have OCD and don’t know exactly what’s happening
  • replies: 22

Hi all, I have just joined as a member recently, I feel the need to say what is going on with me as I am not fully cognizant as to what is happening. I sometimes get racing thoughts throught my mind and it’s difficult for them to stop, this can happe... View more

Hi all, I have just joined as a member recently, I feel the need to say what is going on with me as I am not fully cognizant as to what is happening. I sometimes get racing thoughts throught my mind and it’s difficult for them to stop, this can happen at anytime and sometimes when I am watching TV or listening to the radio, the thoughts can begin and seem to distract me from what I am listening to/watching and I tend to tune out unwillingly as the thoughts seem to just take over, I feel as if I barely have any control or any way to make them stop. The thoughts can start at any random time and sometimes consist of events that have happened in the past or conversations I have had in the past or a future conversation I am planning to have. It also happens if I may be about to see someone, eg, on the way to work and I feel that they may ask me a question and I am thinking what the question may be and I plan my potential responses in my mind, it’s kind of like a version of how the conversation could go is going through my head. There are times where I will also start thinking that my boss is going to call me and either cancel a shift on me or tell me off for something that I may have done wrong, I understand that this falls under the category of timorousness as I work a range of different hours and rarely see my boss and therefore cannot know if she is happy with my performance etc at times, this is usually only ephemeral and passes once I know she has left work for the day. I feel that a lot of this is due to my OCD, I sometimes get random feelings in my body like kind of like some kind of stabbing pain in my chest and it’s kind of like a semi hot feeling, it doesn’t really last that long but I often get scared when it occurs and think I may be having a heart attack or stroke, I try to convince myself that this is not the case but it’s not that easy to do, it scares me that it may happen in future, this event just happened to me last Sunday in the movie theatre and eventually passed, I attempt to manage it with a breathing technique that I was taught and it works quite a bit, the movie started and it eventually went. I’m putting my story on here as I want to know if others are experiencing something similar or have in the past, it would be greatly appreciated if people could answer and attempt to assist in any way or at least share similar experiences. Thanks in advance.

Chick1 General Stress and Anxiety
  • replies: 2

Hi everyone, This is my second time posting on this forum. I don't usually like to talk about my stress or anxiety as I know that my issues do not compare with a lot of troubles other people are facing in life. I just wanted to post tonight, as I hav... View more

Hi everyone, This is my second time posting on this forum. I don't usually like to talk about my stress or anxiety as I know that my issues do not compare with a lot of troubles other people are facing in life. I just wanted to post tonight, as I have suffered from some anxiety for a long time and it has tended to effect many aspects of my life. Previously, I had more to be stressed about than I do now, but despite the fact that things have been going okay I still manage to find things to worry about, fear and be sad about. I really can't remember the last time I truly, without trying felt fully happy. Everything has become something to panic over, how am I going to go to an acquaintances wedding in a year, will I be late for work tomorrow and what is going to happen at my performance review in 2 weeks time. I struggle to stop thinking and to switch my mind off or relax. When I start getting overwhelming stressed, my heart rate goes a little faster and I start wanting to move things in the house. This behaviour has been happening to me my whole life and everyone has suggested that i need to go and see a doctor, or a psychologist. The thought of doing that is also stressful. I want to be better, not just for me but for the people in my life. But I dont know where to start, everytime i think of booking an appointment I change my mind and pretend like nothing is happening. For all the people in the world that struggle with this, I feel your pain.